https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050348
Associative ionization in collisions of electronically excited Na atoms with vibrationally excited Na2(v") molecules
1
Universität Kaiserslautern, Fachbereich Physik, Postfach 3049, 67653
Kaiserslautern, Germany
2
University of Latvia, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy,
Raina bulv. 19, 1586 Riga, Latvia
Received:
24
January
1999
Published online: 15 August 1999
We have studied the formation of 
ions in collisions of Na(3d,5s,4d)
atoms with vibrationally excited Na
molecules in their
electronic ground state in a supersonic beam. The cross-section
of the Na
associative ionization is found to be
about six times larger than that of the corresponding atomic
reaction Na
. Associative ionization in collisions
of Na(3d) with Na is observed only with vibrationally excited
Na2 molecules. The cross-section 
of this reaction increases
only slightly with v" for low vibrational excitation, while
a strong increase with v" is observed for 
. The latter
observation suggests the opening of the channel leading to the
formation of 
ions in the first electronically excited state
for 
.
PACS: 34.50.Gb – Electronic excitation and ionization of molecules; intermediate molecular states (including lifetime, state mixing, etc.) / 34.50.Fa – Electronic excitation and ionization of atoms (including beam-foil excitation and ionization)
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1999
